


The Training of a Human

by ConvenientAlias



Category: Perilous Gard - Elizabeth Marie Pope
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Captivity, Dubious Consent, F/F, Power Imbalance, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-09-20 14:41:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17024580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConvenientAlias/pseuds/ConvenientAlias
Summary: The Lady has known all her life that her soulmate will be a human named Kate Sutton. Of course, she doesn't intend to tell Kate that until she's trained Kate past her human fallibility.





	The Training of a Human

**Author's Note:**

  * For [The_Wavesinger](https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Wavesinger/gifts).



The Lady first saw Kate Sutton in the forest, her own territory, wearing green, her own color. It was auspicious, but she did not make note of it at the time. She merely thought to herself, _Oh, here’s another one of them_. More humans cluttering up her Perilous Gard. This one was a girl and she seemed somewhat out of place, and it amused the Lady to show herself. But it was more a trick than anything else; she wanted to see how the girl’s eyes would widen, as they did. She gazed down, and the girl looked up, and their eyes met. For a moment she felt that the girl understood her mockery and perhaps even empathized. But it was an instant’s impression, quickly formed and quickly gone, as quickly as the girl moved on down the road.

The Lady did not think about the girl again until more than a week later when Master John announced she was causing some trouble and revealed her name to be “Kate Sutton.”

The Lady felt a twinge in her sternum. She blinked lazily. “So this Kate Sutton is hindering your plans?”

“I fear she could cause more than a little trouble, madam, if she spoke to Sir Geoffrey about your taking Christopher Heron. We wouldn’t want anything to interfere with your teind.”

“No,” the Lady said, but although she had been excited earlier about the deal with Christopher Heron, she no longer was thinking about the teind at all. Kate Sutton. Kate Sutton.

“Well, madam?”

“I would like to see her in person. There are…many things one could do about such a problem.”

She followed him down the hall to a little office room. All the while she had to hide her heart pounding in her chest. _The_ Kate Sutton. Then this was a moment she had been waiting for all her life. But it was no good to let a human see that, much less the likes of Master John. She carried herself lightly.

The girl was as she remembered. Unusually tall, ruddy, gawky. Nothing to mark her out as Kate Sutton. Indeed, she wasn’t even graceful—she stumbled when she got to her feet at their arrival. The Lady frowned. “Is she always so clumsy?”

“And stubborn?” There was a look on the girl’s face…

“Very stubborn. Even if her mind were to be taken away—”

“I won’t have my mind taken away from me,” the girl said bluntly, and that was when the Lady knew that she really was _the_ Kate.

She surreptitiously pressed a hand to her belly. Her soulmark was aching, but just a little, slight enough that it might have been mistaken for a cramp. The girl didn’t seem to have noticed any such thing. But then, she doubtless had enough on her mind.

Her mind, which was the current topic of conversation. The Lady smiled. “Do you want me to take her mind away from her?” she asked Master John. Though she had no intention of doing so. Her soulmate, after all, would have to be her equal.

Master John said no. What he preferred, if his preference was to be taken into account, was not for Kate to be insane but for her to be dead.

A dead soulmate was not an option either. But it wouldn’t do to show an investment. “I see no need of her death. She does not appear to be of very great value, and in my land she will be worth even less, but we do keep certain mortal women for various uses. Such as mending and scrubbing. She might be useful, if she were properly trained. Fetch me a cup.”

It was her intention to offer Kate the happy drink, for now. It might make her first few days or weeks underground easier. The Lady could wean her off it eventually, as part of her training—but that need not start immediately, and it would be better to let her get accustomed to her new way of life. It was clear from the look on her face that as yet she had not accepted her fate in the slightest.

It was not the ideal way to acquire a soulmate, but it would do.

She poured some of her powder into the water Master John brought from her, and held it out to Kate. Kate turned pale.

“You don’t need to…I mean, I’ll go quietly, I don’t…”

Ah. She had seen Christopher Heron’s departure. “This drink is not what we gave the Young Lord, if that’s what you fear. That is something else. This is only what we give rich pilgrims that they might forget their grief—or their fears.” Kate still looked nervous. “The mortal women who live with us drink it every day. It takes away the heaviness of their lives and brings them peace.”

“I do not want my mind to be taken away.”

“It will not take away your mind.” Gods forbid. “It will only take away the parts that are unpleasant. Who would not be glad to lose that?”

“Well…Are you?”

“I?”

“You and the others. Your people. Do you also drink it every day?”

“We do not need to be eased so. But a human would find our way of living unbearable. _You_ would find our way of living unbearable. What, do you think you could live like us?”

 She wondered if Kate would say yes. Even if she said no, she would have to, eventually. The Lady would see to it. But would she dare say yes?

“I don’t know how you live,” Kate said. “But I don’t see why I couldn’t.”

“Refuse, and you’ll find out soon enough,” The Lady said. “Then you’ll come to me crying and begging for it, when I offer it to you now freely.”

“Well,” Kate said, “couldn’t I have it then?”

Master John looked shocked. The Lady held back a smile. Ah, yes. Even more strong-willed than she had expected. She might be a hard one to mold, but better hard than soft. “You may have it when you please,” she said calmly.

And finally she was able to take Kate down into the tunnels, into the Hill. Leaving a still-obsequious Master John behind. She guided Kate, who was of necessity blindfolded, with her own hands. They did not speak as they walked. It was for the best. The Lady had questions for Kate, and she had things she wanted to say, but she had not yet decided how she would handle this. For now, silence was better.

She almost turned down the corridor that led to her own room, and barely swerved away from it. Of course Kate could not live with her yet. She must live with the other humans until things were right. But parting was difficult. The Lady did not get attached to things, or people, but today she was feeling very satisfied. And this was her soulmate. Her _soulmate_.

It seemed a bit heartless to leave her with the likes of Joan and Beth and Marian, but it was for the best. She ran a hand through Kate’s hair before departing.

* * *

 

She wondered how Kate would adjust to life underground. After all, she had not been exaggerating its difficulties. She had been the queen of the Fae for many years, and lived underground for even longer, and even she still suffered from the weight. And she was not insensitive to the fact that Kate was leaving behind all she knew—nor to the fact that humans had a pampered longing for fresh air, grass, blue skies, all things Kate would not get underground. If Kate asked her for the drink to make her happy, she would have to give it to her; she had given her word. But she had to admit it would be disappointing. About as much as one could expect from a human, but. Recklessly, the Lady hoped that her soulmate would do better.

She had known her soulmate would be human from a young age. “Kate Sutton” was not a faerie name, and the mark had come in when she was less than ten years old, neat script stretching from her diaphragm up between her breasts. She had been fond of the name immediately. It had a solidness to it, and the handwriting was neat and practical. But she knew it was not very common for a member of the Fae to have a human soulmate, nor was it desirable. So she had never shared her soulmate’s name with anyone else. It was a private matter, anyhow. Even among humans, she knew, it was a private matter.

She had thought long and hard about what she would do when she met her soulmate. Had “Kate Sutton” turned out to be a great lady or a queen, she might have joined the human world and they could have reigned together. But this had always been unlikely. She had thought about how to convince her soulmate to come down and join her in her own world instead—especially since gaining her current position—and always concluded that, in the end, she would do whatever was necessary. Had Kate been a rich pilgrim, she might have simply invited her in and given her something to drink to make her stay. Had Kate been a nomad, maybe a Romani, like the Fae themselves, she could have promised her a home. But she had always known that she would use force if she had to. She _would_ have her soulmate, one way or another.

And force had turned out, in this case, to be expedient.

But the Lady really was quite pleased with how Kate Sutton had turned out. A nomad would have been too similar to one of the Fae, and since learning her soulmate had been human, she had been looking forward to something more exciting. And a rich pilgrim would have been much too soft. Whereas Kate was proving to be very… well, Master John had called it stubborn. The Lady called it disciplined.

Kate did not ask for the drink on the first day. She did not ask for it on the second. Or on the third.

She did not ask for it at all.

She did eat the meat, but after a couple days she seemed to be getting sick of it. She also did not seem very fond of her companions, Joan and Beth and Marian. This was good. She could see the lowliness of her roots, her humanity. That would help her grow away from it.

And she was respectful in the main hall during ceremonies. About the rest, the Lady had to quiz Gwenhyfara—since for now Kate was simply a maid, she was rarely in the Lady’s sight.

“The girl is hard-working,” Gwenhyfara said. “She does not take delight in her work like the others but she gets the same amount done. She asks many questions, but don’t worry. I tell her nothing.”

“You may tell her a little, if you wish. As long as you do not tell her anything she might use against us. I trust your judgment.”

Gwenhyfara nodded, accepting the compliment.

“Does she ask about me?” the Lady asked.

Gwenhyfara said, “No.”

This was disappointing.

“Does she talk about her life before?”

“She sometimes asks the other women about their lives, but as you know, they can hardly carry on a conversation.”

“Well, have you learned anything about her? Do you know if she misses anyone?”

Gwenhyfara thought for a moment. “I do not make conversation with her either.” That the reason was that talking to a human was beneath her was implied. “She does often ask about the Young Lord.”

“Christopher Heron.” The Lady hummed.

Gwenhyfara had gone still. Maybe she could sense the Lady’s mood.

“Well, any attachment to him will be gone when he is,” the Lady said.

“May I ask,” Gwenhyfara said, “why all this concerns you? Surely she is no danger, and she gets her work done. I watch her and the other human women carefully, and they don’t misbehave. It is under control, milady.”

The Lady thought for a moment. Well, she could reveal a little of her intent. Indeed, she would have to, if she didn’t intend for Kate to be a scrub-maid forever. “Kate Sutton interests me. She is not like most humans.”

“I have noted some differences,” Gwenhyfara allowed.

The Lady studied her face. There was some fondness there. Good. But still…she could not reveal her soulmate to be a human until said human was proved to be of impeccable virtue, far above her kind. Otherwise the Fae would start talking, and they might well start talking about whether someone with such a soulmate was suited to be their queen.

She would move slowly. But, the time had come when the process must at least begin.

“I have noticed she is still clumsy.”

“Yes, milady.”

“You may start training her to move. Teach her how to fall, how to walk. Let me know when she is proficient, and I will improve on whatever you may teach.”

* * *

 

Gwenhyfara clearly thought it was odd that the Lady was interested in training Kate personally, but on the other hand, she seemed to be enjoying training Kate herself. She reported to the Lady daily, and the Lady listened carefully each time. The reports gradually got longer and slightly more positive—Gwenhyfara even smiled slightly on occasion when mentioning Kate had a recent success. Hard to say whether Gwenhyfara’s pride came from the Lady trusting her with a new task and listening so attentively or from an actual interest in Kate. If it was the latter, she’d soon have to face disappointment. The Lady did not mind Kate getting to know other Fae, but she had no intention of letting anyone get too close.

After about three weeks of training, she cut it off. “So she can walk lightly now.”

“Yes, milady.”

“She does not trip, and she does not carry herself as if her spine is a stick.”

“No, milady.”

“And she can fall without hurting herself.”

“Yes, milady.”

The Lady smiled. “I think I will take over from here. But you have done well, Gwenhyfara. Tomorrow, you must bring her to me.”

And so, for the first time in weeks, she went to the room where the mortal women were kept and spoke to Kate face-to-face rather than gazing at her from across the room. Her soulmark panged on her chest, but she mostly ignored it.

“Kate Sutton. Gwenhyfara tells me you have progressed. Show me how you walk.”

Kate curtseyed clumsily—prompting a panicked glance from Gwenhyfara—but then traipsed up and down the length of the room. She was much less gawky now. Even her build was slowly changing from the training. The Lady noticed that her muscles had gained more definition. She was being molded in act and body both.

“Very good. Now, you will come back to my room.”

Gwenhyfara started, though it was slight enough that Kate probably didn’t notice it. “Milady, I usually give her her lessons here.”

“I  will not be spending a significant amount of time in these _kennels_ ,” the Lady said. “Do you expect me to, Gwenhyfara? Besides, we are teaching Miss Sutton to overcome the tendencies of her race. Hanging around these others will not assist her there.” She tilted her head. “In fact, she will be moving into my room. Gather your things, Kate.”

Gwenhyfara, having nothing to say, swept a curtsey.

* * *

 

It seemed at first that Kate would have nothing to say about the move either. She walked to the Lady’s room beside her silently, and she silently put her things on the wooden shelf next to the Lady’s, and she silently surveyed the room. But as the Lady shut the door to the room, she said, “There is only one bed in this room, milady.”

“It is not as soft as you are used to, either,” the Lady said. The blanket was a fur, true—that much was traditional. But otherwise, the sheets were woolen as was the pillow, nothing like the velvet of Kate’s room earlier, and the mattress was only stuffed with straw.

Kate squared her shoulders. “I told you I could live as you did. Is this you testing that?”

“Partly,” the Lady said. “And it is partly a sign of my favor. You have already passed many tests. You show promise for a human.”

She didn’t say that she had known Kate to be promising, and more, from their first meeting. Or why. It was true; Kate would have proved herself either way by now.

“I’m glad you think so,” Kate said.

“I have plans for you,” the Lady admitted. “But it is not best for you to know them all just yet.”

Unable to help herself, she touched a strand of Kate’s hair. It was still very soft and human. She had wondered, when she was young, if her soulmate would be blonde and red-faced, the opposite of one of the Fae. Kate was not that, but she was decidedly human in some ways all the same. Yet with Gwenhyfara’s training and her own strong will, she was not the kind of human the Lady detested. She was still somewhere in between.

“We will train you some more now, I think,” she said softly. “Are you prepared for it?”

Kate set her jaw. “Yes.”

“Then take off that robe.”

The room was lit only by a single torch, but it was enough to destroy any illusion of modesty. But Kate didn’t cringe away from the Lady’s gaze as most humans might have. She unbuckled her belt and pulled the robe over her head and folded it neatly, leaving it on the shelf with her other things. Then she turned to face the Lady, flushed, her arms crossed over her chest.

Nice as the view was, the Lady was more interested in Kate’s other side, something she’d just caught a glimpse of. “Turn around, child.”

She did.

And yes, there it was. Kate’s soulmark, emblazoned across her upper back. It was short but in large lettering, positioned under the neck but touching both shoulder-blades. Some of Kate’s hair had fallen over it; the Lady lifted it off to get a clear view. She did not touch it, though. Most people would feel more than a slight tingle if their soulmate touched their soulmark. It would be a sure sign of something the Lady didn’t want Kate to know just yet.

“It is considered impolite among humans to ogle someone else’s soulmark,” Kate said after a minute.

“Shh.” The Lady traced a finger around the soulmark, never quite touching it. “Tell me, do you know what it says?”

“No.”

“It is a very ancient alphabet. Not one still used among humans, nor in ancient human texts.” She brought her hand to rest on the nape of Kate’s neck, a gentle grip. “And that is a very ancient name.”

She did not speak it. Kate did not ask. But her body had gone stiff. The Lady squeezed the back of her neck. “We were working on your posture. Relax.”

Kate took a deep breath, then released it. “Yes, milady.”

“Now, kneel.”

Kate hesitated for only a moment before dropping to her knees. The Lady reached around and tilted her chin up to see her expression, which was absolutely mutinous.

“You do not like kneeling.”

“We humans generally kneel to pray, or to show subjugation.” There was an edge to Kate’s voice.

“And you, of course, spurn any power outside your own will. You are proud of learning to control your body, aren’t you?”

Kate said, “Yes, milady.”

“You learned that discipline through Gwenhyfara. I will teach you more.” The Lady put her hands on Kate’s shoulders. “You will remain kneeling, perfectly still and quiet, until I tell you to move. Do you understand?”

Kate did not respond.

“This is one of my tests. Do you _understand_?”

“You told me to be quiet,” Kate said. Her tone conveyed exactly how much she resented both the order and being forced to talk nonetheless.

The Lady took a handful of her hair and tugged on it, just enough to make her hiss. “I don’t think you do understand. But if you fail me now, I will be disappointed. Please don’t disappoint me, Kate Sutton.”

Kate did not reply. But she knelt very, very still.

The Lady went and sat down on the bed. She had nothing to do now, really, except wait. It could be a boring task, training someone like this. What made it better was the view she had of Kate’s back, with her name written straight across it. It was gorgeous. Just the sight of it brought pangs to her own soulmark, and somewhere a bit lower.

She had control of such desires. Such control, of course, meant that when she wanted she could restrain herself, but when it pleased her, it was also safe to indulge. She silently lifted her skirt up, just enough to put her hand between her legs and feel. She moved her hand rhythmically, pumping away at her own pleasure, while across the room Kate knelt absolutely still, slowly beginning to tremble.

* * *

 

More lessons like these followed.

It was clear, at first, that Kate resented the discipline. She found it demeaning, and she seemed to hate the Lady ordering her around more than she’d hated the same coming from Gwenhyfara. Of course, the Lady still sent her to Gwenhyfara for her duties. She still scrubbed pots and washed the floor. But while this was the more menial humiliation, it was clear by the look on her face and the lines of her body that she hated it every time she crossed the threshold into the Lady’s room.

“Doesn’t it disturb you, me staying here?” she asked.

The Lady considered it. It could be annoying, sometimes—Kate was a little distracting, and it was hard to change and maintain hygiene when she did not want to be naked around Kate, not yet. But really there was no comparison between such minor problems  and the joy of her soulmate’s presence. So, “No.”

“Well, it can’t be convenient for you to take on my training personally. I didn’t mind having to stay with the other humans. That seems more…fitting.”

“Do you miss a soft bed?” the Lady asked.

“What if I did?”

“You would not be the woman I thought you were,” the Lady said. “That woman told me she could live as I did. Will you back down now? There is still drink to quench your worries.”

That always shut Kate up.

But overall, Kate was progressing nicely. She was soon able to hold still for quite a while, in any pose the Lady set her. On her knees. Sunk in a crouch. On all fours with the Lady seated on her back. Some poses she could hold longer than others, but she always gave it a try. Every night she came into the Lady’s bed salty with sweat, and the Lady longed to taste the fruit of her labors. But not yet. Not quite yet.

The progress put her in a good mood, though, to such an extent that when one of her courtiers asked when the next dancing night would be, she decided it was about time, and set the date for the night following. It was a good time for dancing, anyhow. She had not been outside much lately, preoccupied with internal affairs: with Kate and with the Young Lord both. The seasons were already changing, and it was no wonder the Fae were restless.

The Lady felt restless too.

On the dancing night, she pulled Kate into a green dress like her own rather than the usual fur robe, and she twined Kate’s hair into a more complicated braid. Kate sat complacently, unquestioning. Then, when noises in the hall signaled the start of the procession outwards, she shoved Kate out the door. “I’ll meet you outside.”

“I can leave?”

“It’s a dancing night.”

“What?”

The Lady shook her head and closed the door on her. She fixed her own hair a bit better than usual, added a little glamorie to her face. Then she joined the mass of bodies surging through the hallway. In a crowd like this, even a queen was anonymous.

Outside the dancing and singing had started. They were singing the Lady’s favorite song, the one that mentioned her. Or at least her title.

“O where is the Queen, and where is she now? Go out by the oak leaf, with never a bough!”

She danced with a couple ladies, a couple gentlemen, working herself into the frenzied mood of the night. Then she spotted Kate dancing with Gwenhyfara and another couple girls. Jealousy surged in her chest and she pushed through the mob to get at the foursome. She seized Kate’s arm and ripped her away, twirled her into a dance of just the two of them.

The music soared, and the dancers twirled like leaves in the wind, like the leaves that caught in tangles in Kate’s hair. The Lady laughed stupidly, leaned in, and plucked a leaf out with her teeth, then spit it to the ground. Then pressed her mouth against Kate’s, but only for a moment. She could not stay still long enough to kiss when the music kept playing.

Then they were stumbling back inside, back to the Lady’s room and onto her bed. She tore off Kate’s dress and shoved her flat on her back on the mattress. Kate was panting, moaning, but for once the Lady did not chide her for her lack of control. It was not a night for control.

She kissed her way down Kate’s body, from her neck to her sternum (pausing where her own soulmark would be) to her ribs and down to her stomach, which was now tighter with muscle than when she had first arrived. “You want me,” she almost growled. “You want me.”

“Yes,” Kate panted. “Yes, yes…”

It was a dancing night. Anyone would want anyone. But that didn’t stop the Lady from feeling utterly victorious as she claimed her prize.

* * *

 

On that night, she felt utter unity with Kate. But such things did not last. Two nights later came the teind.

She had not thought enough on Kate’s relationship with Christopher Heron.

She had not thought enough on how human Kate still was.

Nevertheless, when Kate claimed Christopher Heron, all the Lady could think was: He wasn’t her soulmate. He wasn’t her soulmate. It wasn’t _fair_.

(As if anything in life was fair for the Fae, in an era of Christians.)

* * *

 

With the power of the Hill broken, the Lady had more to worry about than Kate Sutton, than a battle already lost. She had to call her people together, tell them what they would do. She had to organize them into groups that would travel separately, remind them of how it worked when Fae went into hiding, how to live in the world of humans that they had been able to abandon for so brief a time. She also had to flood her own home because she’d be dead before she allowed humans to ever capture it.

And then, then she could worry about Kate Sutton.

When she saw her again, she felt that she had aged many years, and that she had diminished. She thought that Kate would see it and laugh at her, and she was almost afraid. But Kate took one look at her, in her ragged clothing and her stooped posture, and said, “Stop it!”

Her voice was sharper than it had been when they lived together in the Hill, but that was to be expected. There, the Lady had been master, and here it was quite the opposite.

She told Kate of how things had fallen out and Kate listened. There seemed to be something sympathetic about her. But it was quite likely it was all in the Lady’s imagination. She had always wanted to believe the best about Kate, about her relationship with Kate.

“Why,” Kate asked, “have you come to tell me all this?”

To see her face, really. To see if she could bear this better than the Lady, even though the Lady already knew this to be true. But these were not acceptable answers, and there was another errand the Lady was running, after all. A more important task, even if it didn’t feel like it. “I must ask a favor. Sir Geoffrey Heron is marking up the trees to cut down. I wish you to tell him not to cut down the dancing oak.”

Kate thought it over. “I will do it, then. And gladly.”

It didn’t make requesting anything of Kate any less painful, but the Lady accepted the words as true. “Very well, then. Is there anything you would ask in return?”

Kate started to speak, then bit her lip. Then finally spoke. “We once spoke about my soulmark.”

“Once.” And only the once.

“You know I have never been able to read it. But you knew the alphabet. Could you read the name?”

“Yes.”

“I would like to know the name, then.”

The Lady tilted her head. “A name in faerie lettering is a faerie name. Your soulmate must be one of the Fae.”

“I would still meet them,” Kate said stoutly. “You said I could have what favor I asked for—give me this.”

The Lady said, “Cyneburga.”

“A woman.”

“Yes, a woman.” The Lady turned away. “It means royal fortress in the old language.”

“Cyneburga.”

The name sounded too soft on Kate’s tongue. Too _human_. “And now you know.”

“And was there any member of your company named Cyneburga?”

“I granted you one favor,” the Lady said. “You may find your soulmate for yourself.”

She walked from the room, from the life of Kate Sutton, briskly. Otherwise she feared she would not leave at all.


End file.
